This is the second location of a Dallas restaurant that combines a trendy dining room with spaces that beg customers to make Instagram posts and upscale comfort food. It’s a genre that modernizes Southern cuisine popularized by Black America. Owner Kevin Kelley wants his new restaurant to complement Chicago’s dining scene, to be a celebratory place where diners nosh on huge chops drizzled with Asian Hennessy glaze and a cornucopia of chicken and waffle options. There’s also creative cocktails and a lounge. Reservations are recommended.

Food halls aren’t a passing fad, even during a pandemic. Urbanspace is a collection of 12 stalls and a bar (there’s room for 20 restaurants) with a mix of local favorites (Happy Lobster, Edzo’s Burger Shop, Budlong, Isla Pilipina) and imports (Roberta’s Pizza, Plant Junkie, Pita Yeero). Toss in some new concepts (Bianca’s BBQ, Bhoomi) and this is a formidable spot for Loop dining.

This is the rebirth of a family-owned Mexican restaurant in Archer Heights, near Midway International Airport. Solazo’s ownership learned a few lessons when it opened La Josie along Randolph Restaurant Row in West Loop. They’ve applied those lessons at their original restaurant without sacrificing the neighborhood feel. The tacos, queso, and other items have never tasted better, but now customers can enjoy amped up cocktails.

This Spanish all-day restaurant from D.C. native James Martin is a sleeper hit in Lincoln Park. The former A10 chef features a morning menu with coffee and pastries. The all-day menu, ideal for lunch, focuses on bocadillos, the elusive Spanish small sandwiches that haven’t quite caught on in Chicago. Find smoked lamb, fried calamari, and jamon Serrano options. The dinner menu includes heavy hitters like paella and tapas favorites like patatas bravas, and non-traditional items like foie gras with berry and beet jam.

Not many in Lincoln Park expected a London-style Anglo-Indian pub from the owners of Au Cheval. But after months of not saying a thing, Hogsalt Hospitality opened Armitage Alehouse featuring British-style curries, savory pot pies, and Guinness and Harp at the bar. English pubs are known for being casual, allowing patrons to drop in and out at their leisure. At the sleek and dark Armitage Alehouse, customers will need luck to grab a reservation.

Doubles, a Trini delicacy, are featured at Cafe Trinidad ToGo, the return of a Grand Crossing restaurant that closed in 2016. The island cuisine sees many influence, including African, Syrian, and Indian — all byproducts of colonization and slavery. Powered by a Caribbean version of roti, doubles are filled with chickpeas, potatoes, or goat and lamb curry, a sweeter version than most would expect. Cafe Trinidad’s return gives Chicagoans a delicious option for this vital dish. The Reader’s Mike Sula has more.

Claudia, the fine dining restaurant in Bucktown from chef Trevor Teich, is the culmination for years of searching for a permanent home for his pop-up. The storied space, where chefs like Stephanie Izard and Takashi Yagihashi cooked, has been revamped. The main dining room is where Teich’s playful tasting menu is served. On the first floor, toward the rear of the building, the bar sits with a range of items from lobster pot pie, dry-aged steak, and a fantastic wine list. While it’s more casual than upstairs, it doesn’t represent compromise.

Chicago’s only Filipino fine dining experience is the hottest table in town as Kasama began dinner service in November. The Ukrainian Village cafe continues morning and afternoon hours, but later in the day the operation shuts down to allow staff to prepare to serve chef Tim Flores’ unique tasting menu. Flores riffs on classic dishes like lumpia and pancit, while offering modern ingredients like A5 wagyu. Pasty chef and co-owner Genie Kwon serves up halo-halo and more surprises for dessert. Kasama is among America’s Best New Restaurants. 

Segnatore has some huge shoes to fill in Humboldt Park as the Italian restaurant opened in the same space where much loved French restaurant Cafe Marie-Jeanne spent five years on the corner of Augusta and Chicago. The new tenant is from the owners of Good Measure in River North, and an attempt to grow the brand with pastas, whole-fried chicken, and a list of fancy drinks and wines. The owners also plan on reopening the dive across the street, California Clipper, on New Year’s Eve.

In Chatham, a former Harold’s Chicken Shack has been replaced with a new fried chicken spot that takes aim at a certain spinach-eating sailor. Hot Chi Chicken & Cones, features the Popeyes Ain’t Shit sandwich, and as the Tribune shares, the restaurant is a fun mix of Nashville hot and Middle Eastern fare. Prepare to wait in long lines.

As dining rooms closed during the pandemic, carry out and delivery reigned. One of the most popular to-go operations came from Henry Cai, a Chicago native inspired by his father’s exploits working at Chinese restaurants. Cai started selling Chinese-American food via Instagram at 3 Little Pigs. The response to his Cantonese cooking, with his signature three-pork fried rice, noodles, and dumplings was tremendous. He’s now found a home in Humboldt Park where he can make food six days a week (carry out only for now, delivery coming soon). The operation will expand once he gets more kitchen equipment as he’ll bring back his delectable smoked ribs and more. Cai is hopeful to open in a new location with a dining room sometime in 2022.

Joe Carlucci is a revered name for many Chicagoans who missed his Italian-American fare after his city restaurant closed in 1997 in Lincoln Park. Carlucci has returned with a new space in Lakeshore East, packing all the red sauce goodness that loyal fans loved.

Eli Tea is imported from the suburbs of Detroit, where the Birmingham, Michigan cafe has produced blended tea drinks with an international flair. There’s hot and cold milk tea and boba beverages, and serious teas that drinkers won’t find anywhere else. In Chicago, the Andersonville location embraces the LGBTQ community, and wants to give drinkers an alternative to alcohol and a venue where customers can hang and mingle. Recently, they’ve added samosas from Tasting India, a pop-up from local chef Jasmine Sheth.